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| This article is from the Fall 2001
AFRMA Rat & Mouse Tales news-magazine.
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Helpful Hints
Those Wonderful Coke Bottles
From Nichole Royer
I drink lots (and lots) of Diet Coke. At work, the
only way I can get it is in plastic 20-oz bottles. This has
left me sitting at work staring at those bottles all day,
and naturally my mind has wandered away to think about what
the critters would think of the bottles.
Water Bottles
One of my first discoveries was that a 16-oz
cap-type lid and tube fit those bottles perfectly. The
bottles’ curved shape makes it difficult for rats to
chew, and they are easily hung by the usual water bottle
hangers. When they get dirty, there’s no need to scrub
them out. Just recycle them and hook up a new bottle.
Cooler/Heaters
When the weather is warm, it’s very easy for
our critters to get overheated, particularly while
traveling. A great way to prevent this is to fill Coke
bottles three-quarters full, then put them in the freezer.
When it gets hot out, put one in your critter’s cage.
If they feel hot, they will lay next to (on top of, wrapped
around) the bottle, keeping themselves cool. The critters
really seem to love it if you pull an old sock over the
bottle.
This also works the other way around. If it is very cold
out, fill the bottle with warm (not scalding) water and put
it in a sock. Put this in the cage, but be sure that your
critters can get away from it if they want to. Remember,
they have a fur coat; they don’t necessarily get cold
as easily as we do.
Toys
Just for the heck of it, I tossed an empty Coke
bottle into one of my rat cages. The girls promptly checked
it out and one of them pounced on it. They quickly
discovered that it was very light weight and could be
bounced all over their cage.
To add more fun, I added a small amount of orange juice
(maybe 3 tablespoons) to the bottle and laid it on its side
in the freezer. My boys loved this one, since they could bat
it, toss it, and occasionally get a treat out of it.
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